


Returning Home

by Blu (BluBooThalassophile)



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale, 半妖の夜叉姫 | Hanyou no Yashahime | Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon (Anime)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Reunions, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:47:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27867849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BluBooThalassophile/pseuds/Blu
Summary: She awaits the return of her lord.
Relationships: Rin/Sesshoumaru (InuYasha)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 95





	Returning Home

It was a soft sunset; she was sitting outside her hut watching as she sipped the tea. The local samurai had been practicing in the fields today, Rin had refrained from commenting on how they could improve, as she twirled the red leaves that fell about her. She had visited the ruins of her family home, made her offerings and prayers before returning to her small hut located near the border of her family’s old property and just outside her childhood village. Now she sat here enjoying her tea and the sunset because tomorrow would surely be another busy day.

Only in this past year had she started to fully relax, her fears and worries of discovery had started to wane as had her paranoia about someone recognizing her and alerting her much further south friends. Her stolen steed was bedded down in the stable stall at the side of her hut, the beast had been her sole companion for about four years, and she had seen to his care and spoiled him rotten without shame. Ebi, as she had taken to calling the horse, was a very docile creature, especially once they had come to an understanding.

Though the hut revealed nothing about what lay within, Rin had always been a bit paranoid of being discovered so she had created a secret hiding hole for the few treasures she had retained from her lord. Her favorite kimono from him, a hair pin he had gifted her with before he had gone to war, his mother’s pearls, as well as an exquisitely crafted container she had always stowed her needed healing salves in. There was a fine china tea pot as well, but she had never minded displaying or using that one; despite having sold the cups when she had run. The artfully crafted tea pot she claimed was an heirloom of her family’s, no one questioned the lie, it was seldom seen by anyone but herself.

As to her kaiken, no one alive had ever seen the fang she had hidden in her sleeve.

No one knew her when she had returned, something she had been grateful for, as it would not reach InuYasha’s pack where she had escaped to. For the first two years she had been paranoid that InuYasha would show up and drag her back to Edo; despite her carefully planned escape she knew the hanyō was a determined soul when he was protecting people. Also, the mere idea of Kohaku finding her had had her in such terror that she had even gone so far as pretending to be mute to keep her identity secret here.

This was the village Rin had been born in, not that anyone in Edo would know that. They had never asked, never inquired as to where her lord might have found an orphaned human and as a result, Rin had never been inclined to tell. InuYasha and his pack seemed to have the skewed perspective of her, seeing her as this fragile little flower they had to nurture; it simply wasn’t true, but they had never bothered to get to know or understand her. If she had been the fragile they viewed her as, then Rin doubted her lord would’ve kept her or let her travel with him as a child; for despite her cheery demeanor, and optimistic outlook Rin was the most savage, ruthless, cunning and resourceful survivor; and her lord knew it. Rin could and would and did not mind cheating, stealing, lying, and trickery, she did not mind shedding blood, or inflicting harm if it meant protecting herself and others. She had preserved her gentleness for those who needed it, her kindness for all without reproach, her cheer for her lord, and her generosity for anyone, but those were only aspects of who she was.

It was the fact no one could or would understand her which had prompted her actions. Her desperate escape in the middle of the rainy season, on a stolen steed packed with her lord’s treasures had been carefully planned; and hazardously executed. She was surprised she hadn’t broken her own neck with the way she had escaped. After three weeks of riding hard she made it to Kyoto where she had sold off her most valuable treasures; kimonos that no longer fit, kimonos too fine for village life, yukatas, shoes never worn, hair combs, hair pins, jewelry, china, it was all gone, and she had taken the money to flee north.

Her lord would understand, he would know what she had done and if anyone in Edo ever gathered the courage to tell him what had been happening then he would know why. Rin did not fear Sesshōmaru-sama’s wrath, no, her lord would understand, he would find her and welcome her home again without question; but everyone else would not.

So, she watched the sun set, the colors of autumn bleed into the sky rather dramatically as the cool air held the scent of rain while she sipped her tea. Ebi’s head rose, ears flicking up to attention as she sipped the tea.

“I was wondering when you would find me,” she commented calmly, keeping her voice level and devoid of her surprise, as she continued to watch the west.

“Rin,” he greeted as he seemed to materialize from the forest. He hadn’t changed, hadn’t aged in the slightest which had her lips quirking a bit. His hair was worn in a high tail now, his armor more like the samurai but not at the same time. He wore Tenseiga and Bakusaiga on his hip, as well as several other fangs she did not recognize at this moment but had no doubts they were his own.

“Would you like some tea my lord?” she asked him as she smiled, his eyes were assessing her carefully.

A slight inclination of his head was his admittance to desiring the tea. Carefully she went into her hut and procured the second clay cup she had.

“I hope you do not mind, I had to sell the china ones,” she explained as she poured him some of the tea, she had always known how he liked it. Sesshōmaru said nothing as he settled, now she realized how massive his mokomoko was as it seemed to be larger and heavier than before. He merely reached out to accept the cup, she smiled even more when he sipped it and nodded.

“What has brought you here, my lord?”

“You,” he answered. “I had just received word of your disappearance upon my return and came to correct that.”

“Ah, so you didn’t die, you were merely off at war,” she mused as she settled herself.

“Rin.”

“I was informed by Kohaku and InuYasha you had been felled in battle, I was… inconsolable,” she admitted. Thirteen and her world shattered, an no body was left of her lord, no proof, merely the accounts of InuYasha’s pack.

“And you left?”

“No, I didn’t leave until later,” she chuckled humorlessly. “I left when I was fifteen and Kohaku decided we would marry. No one would listen to me, or my claims you were not dead, no one would talk to me, instead favoring to treat me like I was some invalid child who did not know reality from fantasy. Kagome was the one though that really…

“I could not stay my lord, not after what was said.”

“You ran,” he deduced.

“It was not hard, I was not particularly attached to Edo, and I had all the finery you had given me before... All I had to do was decide what I kept and what would pay my way home. I knew that when you returned, for you would, that you would find me.”

“Here?”

“Not necessarily here, but I could not fathom being somewhere unknown while I awaited your return. I returned home, bought this land, and became the local healer and midwife, nothing extravagant. But I knew InuYasha and his pack would never find me because they did not know me well enough to know where I was from or who I was.”

“Rin,” he started.

“I am pleased to see you again my lord,” she smiled.

“They said you were dead,” he murmured as he seemed to be closing in on her.

“So, they stopped looking,” she mused humorlessly.

“No one knew where you were, Jaken has been… devastated they lost his human,” Sesshōmaru murmured as his claws caught a stray strand of her hair. The ebony lock was effortlessly wound around his lethal claws as he traced her jugular with those claws.

“Where is he my lord?”

“Coming,” he answered and now she noticed how close his face was, his eyes were mesmerizing.

“It will be good to see him and A-Un again,” she breathed as her eyes flicked to his lips then back to his eyes.

“They said you were dead,” he whispered as his claws touched her jaw, she bit her bottom lip then. “I cannot survive your death a third time,” he murmured, and she gasped as he was now kissing her, it was soft, gentle. Then it was all consuming, she heard her clay cups clatter on the dirt as he dragged her into his lap, she whimpered a bit as his fangs caught her bottom lip and nibbled a little, she brough her hand up to trace his markings as his own seemed to fist in the worn kimono she was wearing.

“Sesshō…” she gasped as she squeezed her eyes shut and he was crushing her to his chest, his nose buried in the nape of her neck. Her free arm had wound its way in his hair, as she buried her face against him, his mokomoko was warm, heavy, fluffy, but she could feel his pulse on her shoulder then.

“I never doubted you’d find me again,” she whispered raggedly as the tears she had been holding back finally started.

“Always,” he verbalized. “Always,” he promised as he lifted his head to rest his brow on hers.

“Sesshōmaru-sama!” a voice shrilly bellowed.

“Jaken!” Rin called out not willing to leave her lord’s embrace at this moment.

“RIN!” the kappa shouted, and she chuckled as she heard him crash before A-Un cam bursting from the forest with the little kappa clinging to his tail. Her two-headed friend came to a halt as his muzzles traveled over her eagerly. “Rin! You, foolish human, we were told you were dead! Do you not realize the trouble you have caused our lord!” Jaken bellowed as he came racing around A-Un to her. “Never scare us like that again young lady!”

“I won’t,” she promised as she found her head tucked under Sesshōmaru’s chin. For the first time since she was thirteen the world seemed alright, and she felt at home as she hugged Sesshōmaru tightly.


End file.
